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GoldenEye (film)
| followed_by = | song = "GoldenEye" }} GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's British secret service agent, James Bond. Made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions (though listed as "Albert R. Broccoli presents") it was the second official James Bond film not produced by Broccoli (although oversaw the film as Consulting Producer) himself. While undergoing heart surgery, Broccoli entrusted the making of the film and the forthcoming generation of James Bond films to his daughter Barbara Broccoli and stepson Michael G. Wilson, both of whom had been executive producers of previous James Bond films. GoldenEye was released in 1995 and was directed by Martin Campbell. Campbell also directed 2006's Bond film Casino Royale. GoldenEye While GoldenEye is technically the third original James Bond movie that doesn't contain any reference to an Ian Fleming novel or short story, the title comes from Fleming's Jamaican estate he dubbed "GoldenEye" where he wrote all the Bond novels. The estate could have been named "GoldenEye" for a number of reasons. The first is that the estate is located in Oracabessa, which is Spanish for 'golden head'. Fleming is also reported to have read Carson McCullers' novel Reflections In A Golden Eye around the time he had his house built in Jamaica. More notably, Fleming was in charge of the defence of Gibraltar during the Second World War; the operation dubbed by Fleming, Operation GoldenEye. In the film, "GoldenEye" is the code name of a secret Russian military satellite, which uses a nuclear explosion's electromagnetic pulse to disable electronic devices. Overview GoldenEye is considered an important film in the Bond series in that it was successful in reviving interest in a character that many critics had suggested had become an anachronism in the post-Cold War world. The previous film, Licence to Kill, had been released in June 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although it was financially successful and critically acclaimed, it was not as popular as previous Bond films, suggesting interest in the series was waning at that point. Judi Dench, the newly cast M, describes Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War." This unusual candor, combined with a generally well-received performance by Brosnan as the new James Bond, helped to revitalize the franchise. Casting Before Pierce Brosnan was cast as James Bond, Liam Neeson, James Purefoy, Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Hugh Grant and Lambert Wilson were all rumoured to be in the running for the role. Actresses considered as Bond girls were Elizabeth Hurley and Elle Macpherson. Paulina Porizkova and Eva Herzigova were offered the role of Natalya but turned it down. Plot summary The story opens in 1986, in the Cold War Soviet Union. British secret agent James Bond and his fellow 00 agent, Alec Trevelayan (006), have infiltrated a secret Soviet chemical weapons production facility with the intention of destroying it. After finding their target, a large room filled with chemical canisters, James begins to plant explosive charges while Alec holds off the facility's guards. Alec is captured by a ruthless Soviet general, Ourumov, who orders Bond to surrender. Bond resets the charge timers from six minutes to three and walks out to surrender just as Ourumov executes Alec. Bond takes cover behind a cart of chemical canisters and moves toward a conveyor belt that leads outside. A foolhardy guard is killed by Ourumov himself when he shoots at Bond. Bond is able to escape on the conveyor belt and shoots out the locks holding hundreds of other canisters which temporarily bury Ourumov's men. Outside the facility, Bond, using a motorcycle, leaps after a plane that falls off a nearby cliff. He successfully regains control of the plane and flies off as the weapons plant explodes. Nine years later Bond is driving in the mountains near Monaco with a woman psychiatrist from MI:6 who is assigned to evaluate his mental state. He races down a mountain road and becomes involved in a dangerous driving game with a beautiful woman in a Ferrari. The psychiatrist, citing his reckless nature, demands that he halt the game. Bond does and seduces her. Bonds current assignment is to observe possible subversive Russian involvement in the demonstration of a French hi-tech helicopter called the Eurocopter Tiger, which is unaffected by electromagnetic pulses from nuclear weapons. He is ordered to follow the same woman he raced with earlier, Xenia Onatopp, a Russian helicopter pilot. Xenia has been the mistress of a Canadian Air Force captain whom she later murders during sex by crushing his chest between her thighs. The next morning, Bond investigates the captain's yacht, finding him dead. He rushes to the site of the Tiger demonstration and sees it being stolen by Xenia, who, moments before, murdered both pilots. Bond is arrested and watches helplessly as Xenia flies away. In the wastes of Siberia, at Severnaya, a Russian satellite communications outpost, General Ourumov and Onatopp arrive in the Tiger helicopter, ostensibly for a surprise inspection of the a new satellite weapons system called Goldeneye. Ourumov orders the commanding officer to hand over the activation keys and control disk for Goldeneye and promptly has Onatopp execute everyone working at the facility. (As she finishes killing everyone, she shows signs of sexual excitement.) Onatopp and Ourumov then activate one of the two Goldeneye satellites, one which contains a powerful nuclear warhead capable of delivering an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) over Severnaya. Unknown, however, to Onatopp and Ourumov, one of the technicians, Natalya Simonova, was out of the room when the others were murdered and had hidden from Onatopp. Ourumov and Onatopp escape in the Eurocopter, it being unaffected by the EMP. Two Russian MiGs dispatched to the scene are destroyed, colliding with each other when the electronic components within them are disrupted by the EMP. One explodes midair, the other crashes directly into the huge satellite of the facility, causing the antenna stalk to plunge into the ground. Simonova survives the destruction of the command center and is able to climb out of the underground portion on the antenna stalk. At MI:6 headquarters, in a high-tech observation room, Bond talks with Tanner, a specialist, who tells him they found the missing Eurocopter at Severnaya by satellite imagery. They also witness the total disruption of images in the region resulting from the EMP. Bond spots a survivor crawling away, Natalya, and reports to his superior, M. Following a brief and tense conversation where she senses Bond doesn't trust her judgment and she tells him he is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War", she orders him to St. Petersburg to investigate the connections between the Goldeneye weapons system, Ourumov and a mysterious Russian crime syndicate known only as Janus. She also warns him to complete his mission and not be guided by his desire for revenge on Ourumov for Trevelyan's murder. Bond drops by Q's lab and is given a wristwatch with a laser, a belt loaded with a cable that can support his weight and a ballpoint pen which doubles as a grenade. Ourumov meets with Russia's Defense Minister, Mishkin, and resigns his post in light of the disaster at Severnaya. Mishkin informs Ourumov that there was not only one survivor in the disaster, but two. The first, Boris Grishenko, a brilliant computer programmer, had actually escaped with Ourumov and Onatopp and was listed as missing, however, they had not counted on Natalya's surviving the blast. Boris summons her to a chapel via email and she goes there, promptly being captured by Boris and Onatopp. Bond arrives in St. Petersburg and meets his CIA contact, Jack Wade. Wade agrees to take Bond to the hideout of a Russian gangster, Valentin Zhukovsky, whom Bond had wounded and given a permanent limp years before. (Bond had also stolen Zhukovsky's woman.) Zhukovsky is the only connection Bond has to meeting the leader of Janus. Zhukovsky is still quite bitter about his wounded leg, nearly shooting Bond but agrees to aid Bond when the agent offers him a bribe of money and explosives. Zhukovsky also gives Bond a bit of history about Janus' leader; the man is allegedly the child of Lienz Cossack parents whose tribe had collaborated with the Nazis during World War II and were given refuge by the English government. However, they were betrayed by England and remanded back to USSR where they were all executed under orders from Stalin. At his hotel's pool and steam room, Bond meets Onatopp herself, his lead to Janus. The two fight, with the combat being sexually exciting to Onatopp. Bond refuses to be seduced or injured and, pointing his gun at her, orders her to take him to Janus. They arrive at a graveyard of sorts, full of statues of Soviet-era Russian leaders. Bond renders Onatopp unconscious and walks out to meet Janus, who turns out to be Alec Trevelyan himself, half of his face scarred by the explosives blast at the Soviet weapons facility nine years prior, a reference to the two-faced Roman god. Alec explains his origin to Bond; his parents escaped Stalin's execution of their people and fled to England, where Alec was born. Alec has Bond shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart. Bond wakes up in the pilot's seat of the Eurocopter, which has been programmed to fire its rockets at itself. In the backseat is Natalya. Bond is able to hit the emergency eject button with his head and the two are propelled away from the blast. Bond frees them both and they are almost immediately arrested by Russian police and both are taken to a holding center. While waiting to be questioned, Bond tells Natalya that he knows who she is, recognizing that her watch is permanently stopped, a sign of the EMP that destroyed Severnaya. She tells him she knows little else besides Ourumov's theft of the Goldeneye control disk and that Boris is working with the general. Minister Mishkin walks in the room and threatens Bond with execution for espionage; Bond counters with accusations of treason by Ourumov. Natalya admonishes them both and answers Mishkin's question as to why Ourumov would steal Goldeneye. Natalya tells him that there is a second satellite with a nuclear weapon. Ourumov suddenly bursts into the room and protests that Mishkin is interfering with his own investigation. Ourumov seizes Bonds Walther PPK and kills a guard and Mishkin, intending to frame Bond. Bond is able to subdue Ourumov and a few guards and he and Simonova escape into the archives. Bond escapes after Natalya is captured by Ourumov. Bond steals a Russian tank and chases after them, destroying much of St. Petersburg. He finally tracks them to a train yard where Ourumov and Natalya board a large, black train that serves as Trevelyan's mobile HQ. Further down the tracks, Bond is able to derail the train with the tank and confronts Trevelyan, holding he and Onatopp at gunpoint. Alec calls Ourumov into the room with Natalya whom he holds hostage. Causing a minor distraction by telling Ourumov of Alec's Cossack heritage, he is able to shoot Ourumov but Alec escapes with Onatopp. Alec locks the train remotely, trapping Bond and Natalya inside, and tells Bond that he's planted explosives on the train with timers set for the same six minutes Bond gave him years before (in actuality, three minutes). Bond cuts through the floor while Natalya, on a computer console, finds Boris Grishenko's location in Cuba. The two escape the train before it explodes. The two travel to Cuba and meet Jack Wade, who gives Bond a plane. Bond and Natalya spend a romantic night together, Natalya remarking on how cold Bond's nature is. Bond counters saying that he must kill his old friend to stop him. The two fly over the approximate location where Natalya had traced Boris, a seemingly idyllic lake. A missile fired from under the water cripples their plane and they crash in the jungle. At the crash site, Onatopp rappels down from a chopper and attacks Bond. Bond is able to shoot the chopper down, pulling her into a tree and killing her. Bond and Natalya discover that the lake really hides a giant satellite dish embedded in the earth. Alec and Boris have activated the second satellite's nuclear bomb and have programmed it to explode over London; Alec's plan is one of revenge against England's betrayal of his Cossack heritage; the EMP will destroy every computer system causing nation-wide chaos. The blast will also erase all financial records, but not before Alec has had Boris break into the Bank of London and loot billions of pounds. Bond and Natalya make their way inside; Bond places explosive charges near fuel pipes and Natalya finds a computer terminal to block Boris' programming of the Goldeneye satellite.A brief gunfight ensues and the fuel pipes are punctured, causing the flammable fluid to begin pooling nearby Alec's and Boris' command terminal. Bond is captured, as is Natalya, and both are brought to Trevelyan, who quickly and easily disarms the bombs Bond planted. Boris discovers that Natalya has changed his access codes for the satellite and Trevelyan threatens to kill Bond if Natalya doesn't undo her work. Having picked up Bond's grenade pen, Boris begins playing with it, pressing the button and activating the charge. Bond knocks the grenade into the pool of leaking fuel where it explodes, causing a fire which threatens the entire facility. Alec orders Boris to regain control of the satellite. Trevelyan races off to find Bond and chases him to the satellite dish's large antenna while Natalya takes control of a helicopter and its pilot. On the antenna, Bond and Alec battle hand-to-hand. During the fight, Bond is able to block the gearing mechanism controlling positioning of the antenna, which prevents Boris from regaining control of the nuke in orbit. It subsequently burns up and the facility explodes. Boris appears to survive and declares himself invincible when a shower of liquid nitrogen freezes him instantly, killing him. Still fighting hand-to-hand, Bond and Alec find themselves at the bottom stalk of the antenna, hundreds of feet above the dish. The fight ends with Bond throwing Alec over the side, holding onto his former friend's boot. Alec asks if Bond intends to drop him "for England?" Bond replies "No. For me." and lets go. Alec plummets to the bottom of the dish and is still alive. Bond leaps to safety from the disintegrating antenna onto the helicopter Natalya has commandeered and flies off just as the antenna collapses, landing directly on Alec. The pilot leaves them in a nearby field where they are met by Jack Wade and a small unit of U.S. Marines. Cast and characters * James Bond - Pierce Brosnan * M - Judi Dench * Q - Desmond Llewelyn * Miss Moneypenny - Samantha Bond * Jack Wade - Joe Don Baker * Alec Trevelyan - Sean Bean * Natalya Simonova - Izabella Scorupco * Xenia Onatopp - Famke Janssen * Boris Grishenko - Alan Cumming * Valentin Zukovsky - Robbie Coltrane * Irina (Zukovsky's mistress) - Minnie Driver * General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov - Gottfried John * Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin - Tchéky Karyo * Bill Tanner - Michael Kitchen * Caroline - Serena Gordon Crew *Directed by: Martin Campbell *Produced by: Albert R. Broccoli (Consulting Producer), Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli *Written by: Jeffrey Caine, Bruce Feirstein *Story: Michael France *Cinematography by: Phil Meheux *Composed by: Eric Serra *Production design by: Peter Lamont Soundtrack See GoldenEye (soundtrack) Vehicles & gadgets *BMW Z3 — A convertible, it comes fully loaded with all the usual Q refinements including a self-destruct system and stinger missiles located behind the headlights. In the movie, Bond uses none of the car's gadgets (except for the covert receipt-like printer disguised as a mobile CD player). He ends up trading it for Jack Wade's plane in the Caribbean region. *Grappling Belt — Q gives Bond a size-34 belt containing a 75-foot rappelling cord and a piton-shooting buckle. When fired, it shoots a grapple attached to high-tensile-strength wire designed to support Bond's weight. *Aston Martin DB5 — Registration BMT214A. Note this is not the same car as seen in Goldfinger and Thunderball (that car was registered BMT216A). This appears to be Bond's personal car and re-appears in the next film Tomorrow Never Dies (its appearance at Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough did not make it into the final film). The car is equipped with a refrigerator in the centre arm rest to hold champagne and two glasses, and also a communications system including fax and voice commands. *Explosive Pen — Q-Branch gives Bond a pen that doubles as a "class four" (fictional designation) grenade. Three clicks arms the four-second fuse, another three disarms it. *Omega Watch — This watch, standard issue of MI6, has a built-in laser that can cut through steel and iron, and can also remotely detonate mines. *Grapple and Laser Gun — In the intro sequence Bond bungee jumps off of a dam. To ensure he doesn't bounce back up he uses this gun to latch on to the complex below using its grapple function. Once down, Bond uses the laser built inside the gun to infiltrate the venting system that leads into the bathroom. *T-55 — Bond steals it from a Russian military building. Firearms of GoldenEye *Walther PPK — James Bond's standard issue pistol. Shown in the poster below with silencer. Chambered for the 7.65mm x 17 Browning (or .32 ACP) cartridge. *Makarov PM pistol — Standard-issue pistol of the Soviet/Russian armed forces. The pistol was prominately used by General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov in a number of scenes in the movie. Natalya Simonova was seen using a Makarov PM when she commandeered one of the Janus helicopter gunships to rescue Bond from the satellite dish's antenna before it exploded. Chambered for the 9mm x 18 Makarov cartridge. *Browning DA (double action) pistol — Alec Trevelyan's pistol of choice. In the beginning during the facility infiltration he is seen with a Browning Hi-Power Standard, but the ending battle scene at the antenna cradle he is seen with a Browning DA. Both guns are chambered for the 9mm x 19 Parabellum cartridge. * Kalashnikov AK-74 automatic rifle — Standard-issue assault rifle of the Soviet/Russian armed forces and has been in Soviet/Russian military service since 1974/1975. Chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge. * Kalashnikov AKSU-74 carbine— Standard-issue carbine of the Soviet/Russian vehicle crews and certain internal security forces. The AKSU-74 is a SMG (SubMachine Gun) version of the AK-74 for issue to vehicle crews and people operating in confined spaces, it uses the same ammunition as the AK-74. The AKSU-74 (or AKS-74u) was prominately used by James Bond at the Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility in 1986 and in St. Petersburg in 1995 when he and Natalya were escaping from the Russian military base. The AKSU-74 was also used by Xenia Onatopp when she used the weapon to kill the personnel at the Severnaya satellite control centre after General Ourumov got control of the two GoldenEye satellites. Bond can be seen wielding it on Trevelyan's Train. Also chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge. Trivia In the movie GoldenEye, a number of the AK-74 rifles that were used were not real AK-74s but non-Russian made Kalashnikov rifles that were made to look like the AK-74 rifle. The folding-stock variant AK-74 rifles that were seen in GoldenEye were Chinese-made Norinco Type 56/AKM rifles that were fitted with AK-74-style muzzle brakes and Russian-make red bakelite plastic magazines that were made for the AKM rifle in the 1970s. The rifles that were fitted with fixed buttstocks were real, Russian-made AK-74 rifles. Locations Film locations *Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility, USSR *Southern France *Severnaya, Russia *London, UK *Monaco *St. Petersburg, Russia *Cuba Shooting locations *Leavesden Aerodrome, Herts *Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico *Monte Carlo *France *St. Petersburg, Russia *Verzasca Dam, Switzerland Novelisation See: GoldenEye (novelisation) Comic book adaptation In late 1995 Topps Comics began publishing a three-issue adaptation of GoldenEye in comic book format. The film script was adapted by Don McGregor with art by Rick Magyar. The first issue carried a January 1996 cover date. For reasons unknown, Topps canceled the adaptation after only the first issue had been published, and to date the adaptation has never been released in its entirety. Video games :Main article: GoldenEye (video game) and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent GoldenEye was adapted into a highly regarded video game for the Nintendo 64 by Rareware. At the time of its release, it was considered a flagship game for the new N64 console, and was considered revolutionary in its use of the first-person shooter format which led to many imitators. In the Autumn of 2004, Electronic Arts released GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and later the Nintendo DS. This is the first game based on the 007 franchise in which the player does not take on the role of James Bond himself; rather they control an aspiring 00-agent (named GoldenEye) who is recruited by Auric Goldfinger, the villain in the movie and book Goldfinger. The game has little to do with either the film GoldenEye or the N64 game, and was released to mediocre reviews and was criticised for using the "GoldenEye" name in an attempt to sell the game by riding on the success of Rare's game. Trivia *While this is the first appearance of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, he was actually picked to replace Roger Moore in the film The Living Daylights, but due to his contract with the television show Remington Steele he had to drop out of the film. *For a time it was a rumored that Brosnan's contract specifically stated that he was not allowed to wear a full tuxedo in other films and that Brosnan had apparently worked around this in the film The Thomas Crown Affair by leaving his tie untied during a black-tie ball, thus not wearing a full tuxedo. This rumor turned out to be false. *''GoldenEye'' features the highest bungee jump from a structure in a movie, performed by British stuntman Wayne Michaels. The drop was more than 722 ft. *Reportedly, GoldenEye's script had to be rewritten as it was found to be too similar to a plotline in the James Cameron film True Lies. *Joe Don Baker returns as CIA agent Jack Wade: his previous appearance in the Bond films was as the villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights. Baker had played a similar character, also a CIA agent, for GoldenEye director Martin Campbell in the 1985 BBC television drama Edge of Darkness. *Maurice Binder, the title sequence designer for most of the James Bond films since Dr. No, died in 1991. The job of title designer for GoldenEye as well several future James Bond films was then passed to Daniel Kleinman. *"Cubby" Broccoli died shortly after the film was released. He had been too ill but can visit the Pinewood studios being Consulting Producer. The next Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, was dedicated to his memory. *One of the tanks used in the filming of the St Petersburg chase sequence was later used in the Beyond A Joke episode of Red Dwarf. *During the tank sequence, the tank can be seen running over a Russian vehicle, clearly crushing the driver (presumably a mannequin). This depiction of "collateral damage" may have been unintentional as it is followed by a quick shot of the driver getting out of the car. *When Bond meets Wade for the first time, Wade asks "Are you a gardener or something?" after Bond says his name. In reality, Ian Fleming based Bond's name in gardener James Bond. *The uniform of the Canadian admiral was incorrect. The admiral was shown with two bars and an executive curl on the cuffs of his tunic. As this was filmed in 1995, the admiral's uniform should have one solid bar on the cuffs, and three maple leafs on the shoulders, and without the wings on the sleeve. The Canadian Navy would have these restored in 2010. Videos Clips GoldenEye Bond 50 (1995) - Clip Tank Chase Opening Credits External links * *[http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=GOLDENEY MGM's official GoldenEye website] * Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to GoldenEye Filming Locations Category:James Bond films